Partners
by ohDEENG
Summary: Sakura and Kakashi have been friends for so long, neither of them want to risk their friendship over a growing crush.
1. Chapter 1

Note: I decided to begin a new story that is relatively much happier than my last one. Sorry everyone for the ending on the last story, I just felt that it'd be a interesting twist? Hopefully this story will make up for it! Enjoy ^_^

* * *

The sweat dropped off her head as she concentrated at the task at hand. The man's cracked rib was poking out of his stomach, tearing a large hole where the blood continued dripping. Pushing her bangs back, Sakura pressed her hands onto the last major wound on the ninja, and allowed her chakra to begin patching him up. The medic that shadowed her watched in awe as the muscle cells began to painfully sew up, pushing the bone back while healing it at the same time. The ninja managed to crack a smile at Sakura with his dried out lips, and whispered, "thank you," before losing consciousness. Finally done with her job, Sakura wiped the sweat from her brow and walked out of the room to sit on the nearest chair she could find.

"Good work, Sakura," Tsunade passed by her. "We'll have training tomorrow, so go straight to the training grounds tomorrow," and with a wave, she was gone. Sakura took it as a signal that her seemingly endless shift was finally over. Groaning, she put her hands on her knees and pushed herself up and began her way to her office. Throughout the ears, Sakura had become an amazing medic, only surpassed by Tsunade and Shizune themselves. Along with her medic abilities, Sakura had learned to be an incredible ninja, and hoped to join Anbu. She kept her pink hair shoulder length, just long enough to tie it up. While she was annoying, weak, and self-absorbed as a child, she was funny, powerful, and efficient as an adult.

Before leaving the hospital, Sakura grabbed a granola bar from the cafeteria and headed out to the training grounds.

The sun was beating on her shoulders relentlessly, but she enjoyed every moment of it. Without hesitation, Sakura began to set up targets to practice on and happily kept herself busy and her mind occupied by this redundant task. She then stood yards away and flung her kunai at each of them, hitting the targets dead on. It was simple practice really, it kept her busy until her sparring partner reached the grounds, but as always he was late. She smirked when she felt the familiar chakra presence behind her and immediately twirled around to fling three shruiken at him.

Kakashi took a step left, barely dodging the deadly objects. "What if it wasn't me?" he complained. They both smiled, knowing that Sakura had grown to recognize his chakra and would never make a mistake like that. He closed his book with a snap, and readied himself. She never gave him a moment notice before going at him with all the strength she had learned from Tsunade.

She threw a kick at his face, which he managed to block, but in doing so he was hit in the stomach by a quick punch. Grimacing, Kakashi stepped back in order to revert to the defensive and block the young kunoichi's attacks. Grabbing her arm, he twisted so they both fell to the ground, and used it to his advantage. Sakura snarled as Kakashi pinned her down by the shirt with a kunai, and before she could get up, he had a kunai to her neck.

* * *

These daily spars had started when Sakura found Kakashi on the training grounds on a day similar to this one. She had been all smiles, butterflies, and unicorns. He wouldn't have been surprised if she began to barf rainbows out in front of him. "Kakashi-sensei, I'm a jounin now!" He could tell that she had been running from the way she was out of breath in front of him. Smiling, he let his eye crinkle into a smile before congratulating himself. "Get ready," he told her before assuming a fighting stance. She stared with wide eyes and had a split second before he began a close range attack upon her.

Attack after attack, Kakashi felt a pain inside his chest that had nothing to do with the fact that she was keeping up with his attacks. He couldn't help the pity that crept into his soul as he realized that she had grown up right before his eyes without his noticing. Kakashi couldn't deny the fact that he had always given his attention to the boys, and always left Sakura alone. Even when they all went their own ways, he had never really bothered keeping in contact with her, and here she was. She had run all this way to find _him_ to gloat about her latest achievement. _Him_, her former teacher that had all but abandoned her as a genin and a chuunin… when she needed him the most. Disgusted, Kakashi finally let up and masked his disappointment with a cheerful smile.

"Wow, Sakura. You've gotten a lot better, I'm proud of you. How about I treat you to some lunch or dinner sometime?" His voice barely concealed his turmoil of emotions. He felt the pain in his chest again as she brightly smiled up at him. "Ah, Kaka-sensei! You're the best you know that? Can Naruto and Sasuke come too?" she was excited at the prospect of being with her former team again.

Ever since Sasuke had returned after defeating his brother, Sakura, Naruto, and Sasuke remained close friends. Her previous obsession had turned into a friendly affection that never went away.

When Sakura turned away to make her way back to her home, Kakashi closed his eyes. 'They're all grown up now, Kakashi… even Sakura,' he felt a pang of nostalgia as he reminisced about Team 7. They had all gone through so much together. He could hardly believe that they weren't kids anymore, especially Naruto. Now that he thought of it, Naruto hadn't changed much.

Since that day, Kakashi found himself looking for the kunoichi to shower on her the affection and attention that he had never given her before. He would almost always find her at the training grounds working hard to become even better than she was the previous day. At first, he had asked her politely if he could spar with her, and gave her pointers through out the day. Their interactions had been more or less awkward. Uneasiness spread from years of no communication between the two. Gradually, they found themselves feeling more at ease, and he found her at the training ground every day, waiting for him. While he had asked her to join before, he now found it that she would begin sparring with him as soon as he stepped within six yards of her.

* * *

She was sitting across from him, pouting, because she had lost that spar, and rather quickly too. Her pout disappeared as she began laughing and reached her hand over to pick out a pebble that had made its way into his hair. "Damn, every time I think I can finally win against you, you always pull through," she complained. "For an old man, you're kind of fast," Sakura laughed again when she saw Kakashi's visible brow furrow a little at the low-handed insult. Picking up the pebble that she had picked out, Kakashi threw it back at her. "I'm not even that old. It's not my fault you're still a baby," if he didn't have his mask in place, Kakashi would have stuck his tongue out. Sakura burst out laughing, clutching her sides as tears sprang into her eyes. "You're right, but it looks like you're still a baby too," she stuck out her tongue.

Out of breath from their small spar, the two ninja sat under the shade of a nearby tree. Kakashi took out his trademark Icha Icha book while Sakura sat behind him, leaning on him for support. She tipped her head back and let out a breath of relief before smiling. "I spy something green," she said while drumming her fingers against the hard ground.

"Green? The trees," Kakashi replied, never taking his eyes off of the page.

"Nope! You gotta think of better guesses!" Sakura began tracing lightly into the dirt.

"The grass?" He was beginning to realize the futility of guessing something that had a green color. He wasn't sure if she knew that they were sitting near a damn _forest_.

"Man, you're really bad at this today, huh?" Sakura snorted and tipped her head back onto his shoulder.

"Sakura…you do understand that almost everything around us is green, right?" Kakashi finally looked up from his book and peered sideways at her face.

Without even opening her eyes, Sakura lifted her hand and pointed forwards. He sighed and turned at an awkward angle to see what she was pointing out. When he figured it out, he wished that he had continued to guess every other plant near by the two of them.

"Oh ho ho! My eternal rival! What brings you here with the ultimate beauty of youth?" Gai was practically dancing around them in his lovely green spandex suit.

"What do you want," Kakashi bit out. He began looking around for an escape route, though it probably meant an ass whooping from Sakura later.

"I wish to have you join me and our companions as we share a few drinks tonight! I shall allow you to bring the beautiful flower to accompany you!" Gai smiled and gave the two of them a thumb up. Sakura bit back a frown, but kept her eyes closed.

"No, I don't want to drink tonight," Kakashi closed his eyes in frustration.

"What are you implying?" Gai's eyebrows sprang up and his eyes glinted as he sensed a battle.

"You can't drink more than I can. We already went through this before, Gai," Kakashi muttered before beginning to flex his muscles to make his getaway.

"Oh no you don't…." Sakura's fingers found his and grabbed a hold of it, preventing him from making the necessary seals.

"CHALLENGE ACCEPTED!" Gai began prancing around him while creating the rules of the bet. Kakashi let out a frustrated groan and knocked his head against Sakura's hard in retaliation. Pouting, he leaned forward suddenly so she fell back with a shriek.

"What are you? Five?" Sakura mildly stared in his direction and chuckled as she saw the form of a pout outlined on his mask.

"Tonight at 7 P.M.! I will see you soon!" and with those words, Gai had bounded off. Sakura settled down again, and spread herself out on the ground, absorbing the sunlight. She could feel the heat from Kakashi's glare as well as the sun, and it was beginning to make her drowsy. Before she knew it, she had fallen asleep.

Kakashi stared at her in disbelief as Sakura began to snore quietly. 'I can't believe she fell asleep,' he continued burning holes through her with his eyes. Scooting closer, Kakashi felt his lips pull down into a frown as he saw the dark bags that had formed on Sakura's face. He realized what had caused her to lose the spar so easily and cursed himself for being so unobservant. She looked as if she hadn't had a decent night of sleep in a few days. Of course Kakashi felt bad for her, she was completely, utterly exhausted. However, that did _not_ stop him from getting his revenge on her. He stood up and walked to the stream of water that ran close by where they sparred. Scooping up a handful of mud, Kakashi cheerfully made his way back to the sleeping kunoichi.

'Lesson one: Always be alert!' Kakashi's visible eye crinkled as he smiled to himself before beginning his revenge. He held the mud in his left hand and dipped his right index finger into it. Using his finger as a paintbrush, Kakashi drew a line connecting Sakura's eyebrows. Sakura now looked as if she had been born with a beautiful, pink and brown unibrow. He then began drawing circles on her cheeks and drew a nice little mustache complete with a goatee. The mud contrasted nicely with her light, but tanned skin. Standing up, he surveyed his work and smiled brightly. 'Maybe I should have been an artist,' Kakashi thought. He wiped his hands on the grass next to him and knelt down next to Sakura. Kakashi nearly laughed aloud as he saw the peaceful girl sleeping next to him. She was so angelic looking, no one would guess that she had a temper that matched the Hokage, and no one would ever dream that she had the same strength as her shishou either. He sat there for a few minutes, enjoying the lovely weather and the girl next to him. Finally, he decided it was time and yelled, "SAKURA, WE'RE UNDER ATTACK!" Kakashi shook her frantically and then quickly performed the seals to make his getaway.

Sakura was forced awake by Kakashi's yelling and shaking. She was going to kill him unless they were really dying. Looking around dazed, Sakura saw no one near by and groaned. She stood up unsteadily and began her way home. Her face felt heavy, but she figured it was probably because of using nearly all of here energy today. As Sakura walked through the village, she intercepted many odd stares and even blatant laughing. She furrowed her eyebrows in confusion, and it was then she felt something crack on her skin. Cautiously, Sakura rubbed her forehead and felt something crusty and hard. She ran to the nearest window, bewildered.

"DAMN IT. I'M GOING TO KILL YOU!" Sakura's face was covered in mud.


	2. Chapter 2

Enjoy=)

* * *

After she had wiped most of the crap off of her face, Sakura trudged on home. She was annoyed, hot, and tired, and worst of all, she had to meet Kakashi and their friends in about an hour. That would barely give her enough time to take a shower and get ready. She let out a sigh as she saw the door to her studio apartment. Though Sakura made enough money from hospital work and her missions, she had gotten herself a small place. Her hectic work schedule barely gave her enough free time, so she didn't find any reason to buy a bigger apartment if she wasn't going to be in there often. Opening the door, Sakura went in and kicked off her sandals and ran her hand through her pink hair. She got herself a glass of water and sat down on the sofa bed, relaxing a little from the crazy day.

Her humble home was slightly messy, but that was because she never had any time to give it a real clean down. There was a small pile of dirty laundry in one corner, a television in front of her sofa bed, and a small table with two chairs near her kitchen. Next to her sofa bed, there was a small table that had paper scattered everywhere and two pictures. One picture had Team 7 when they were genin and the other one was of Sakura and her parents. While her mom was still alive, her father had died in a mission, and Sakura still mourned him at times. Her relationship with her mom had been rocky ever since his death, and they rarely saw each other anymore.

* * *

Sakura picked up the picture of Team 7 and smiled before setting it down and beginning to undress. She kicked off her shorts to the now growing pile of clothes and made her way to the bathroom. "Shit," she grimaced as she found that there was no hot water yet again. She stood there for a while, adjusting to the frigid temperature of the water, and began hastily showering. 'Oh god, I'm going to get pneumonia,' she furrowed her brows as soap got in her eye. Finally, she got out and hurriedly toweled herself and ran towards the bed. Taking a leap, she crushed into her sofa bed and burrowed herself under some covers, shivering. After half an hour, Sakura stood up with her blanket and dragged her feet to her drawers and chose out a few simple clothes. She put on a strapless floral bandeau bra, a white cardigan, a nude lacy thong, and blue short shorts. Skipping on the makeup, Sakura slipped on some heels and ran out the door, already fifteen minutes late.

"Man, Kakashi, out of all the things to teach Sakura, you taught her how to be late!" Genma roared with laughter as Kakashi's eyes narrowed at him. The only reason Kakashi had been on time was because Genma picked him up on the way to the bar. Genma began cackling again as Kakashi ignored him and opened up his book. Gai was eating some kind of nutrition bar as a kind of "warm-up" for his alcohol competition with Kakashi. Asuma sat there smoking before giving a low whistle.

"Damn, Kakashi…is that Sakura? She sure has changed since I last saw her," Asuma's eyes went wide as he looked her over. He had been gone on a two-year mission and had seen her when she was only 19, but at 21, Sakura was stunning. She relinquished the makeup, nail polish, and other materialistic stuff in order to concentrate on improving as a ninja and a medic. As the other three ninja heard Asuma's remark, their heads turned. Genma's senbon dropped to the table, Gai stuttered out a sentence about her being the epitome of beauty, and even Kakashi looked up from his book. Kakashi felt a slight constriction in his chest as he waved her over, but he passed the feeling off as relief that Gai had been distracted.

"Sakura, you never fail to make heads turn," Genma chuckled as he saw a few other guys at the bar giving her a hungry look.

"Well, the only head that matters is yours," Sakura winked at him and grinned as he turned slightly red.

"Now that everyone is here, we shall commence our competition, Kakashi! Sakura will walk whoever wins home AND give them a kiss!" Gai gave a "winning" smile before getting smacked over the head by Sakura.

"Like hell I will! I'll walk whoever wins home, but that's IT!" She snorted at the let down expression of Gai's face.

"Woah, woah, woah. I'm in on this competition too then," Genma said eagerly. Kakashi glared pointedly at the two ninja before waving the bartender over. Looking at their faces, the bartender already knew that he was about to make a lot of money. He brought over multiple shot cups and lined them up quietly in three rows. Genma sat there rubbing his hands together and smirking. "This one's for you, pinkie," he told Sakura. Gai began to rant and rave about the beauty of youth and how Genma would never win this battle.

Kakashi merely slid down his mask and wet his lips with some water. Sakura's eyes trailed over his face. Though she had seen it a few times now, she never got over how handsome he really was. She thought back to the first time she had seen his face unmasked.

* * *

It had been the day of her 19th birthday, when she was still more of a woman than a ninja. They had been sitting in her apartment reminiscing about old times and drinking sake.

"And then Naruto farted in Sasuke's face!" Sakura choked out. Kakashi fell onto his back and clutched his stomach as he began roaring in laughter. They stayed like that for a few minutes until the laughter finally died out and they were both wiping away the tears from their eyes. Kakashi finally sat up and reached into his pocket and brought out a small box. "Happy birthday, Sakura," he said with his eyes creasing, indicating that he was still smiling. She held her breath in excitement as she took it from him, muttering a heartfelt thank you. Opening the box, Sakura felt the blood drain from her face. It was…"AN ICHA ICHA BOOK! ARE YOU SERIOUS?" She threw the book directly at his face and Kakashi fell to the floor again, laughing. Sakura looked as if she was about to leap onto him and cut his head off with a kunai, but before she could, Kakashi sat up again. Wiping the new tears away, Kakashi merely handed her back the book. "Look inside!" he grinned as she gave him a wary glance. Upon opening the book, she found that the book itself was a box for the object inside, and she let out a gasp of surprise. It was a set of green earrings that matched the color of her eyes. She smiled lightly before putting in on, and Kakashi sat behind her, holding her hair up. She felt a small pull inside her chest, but passed it off as a feeling of genuine appreciation that Kakashi was such a thoughtful friend. They sat there and silently drank their sake, both still smiling. "Kakashi?" Sakura began, "I have something else I'd like to ask you for, for my birthday." He merely nodded his head for her to continue. "Can…can I see your face?" the last part of that came out in a whisper. "Of course, it's about time, I suppose," he took her hands in his and drew it towards his face. With trembling fingers, Sakura inched down the mask slowly and absorbed every part of his face. He had a narrow face, a chiseled jaw, and a sort of half smile. She ran her fingers across his face, mesmerized.

* * *

Sakura shook her head and came back to the present. The three men had begun their competition and it looked like Genma and Kakashi were tied. Gai had stopped after the 12th shot, and was currently making his way to the bathroom. They were on their 16th shot now, and Kakashi could feel himself getting sicker. 19th. 21st. 23rd. Kakashi made his way towards the bathroom, barely keeping in the hurl as he ran past the others. Genma got up to dance, but tripped over his own feet and fell to the ground. Asuma gave a huge sigh and glanced at Sakura. "This is your fault, pinkie. Have fun taking Genma home, I'll take care of the other two morons," he said. Sakura laughed and gave him a wave before turning to find Genma sitting on the floor looking up at her with the biggest smile. "Stand up, stupid," Sakura laughed at him. She took his senbon needle from his mouth and watched his eyes follow wherever it went. Grinning maliciously, Sakura brought the needle to her mouth and gave it a long, slow lick before putting it in her mouth. She laughed at the gaping ninja before standing up at walking towards the door. "You coming?" she called over her shoulder as she pushed the door open. Genma stumbled his way towards the bar to catch up with the kunoichi. Confident because of the alcohol, Genma grabbed her hand and the two made their way to his apartment.

"You know, Sakura, you're really pretty now. Before, you used to be kinda annoying, but now you're like…. like an equal!" he slurred.

"Gee, thanks," Sakura rolled her eyes, but couldn't stop the smile coming to her face.

"I know! I'll sing you a song!" and before Sakura could protest, he began. "You are so beautiful to meeeeeeeeeee, can't you seeeeeeeeeeee!"

Sakura grew brick red as she hid her face in his shoulder from embarrassment. They continued that way for the whole trip, and Sakura could have sworn that all of Konoha had heard Genma's singing.

"Well, here we are! Good night, Genma," Sakura smiled at him.

"What about my goodnight kiss? I won't tell anyone, please? I probably won't even remember it!" he whined and gave her his best puppy dog eyes. Sakura felt its power as she melted a little at his chocolate brown eyes. She slipped his senbon needle from her mouth and drew in closer. Running the tip of the needle across his lips, she chuckled as he fought to focus on the needle.

"Close your eyes," she whispered, and he gladly obliged. Slipping her arms around his neck, Sakura put her lips against him and began the kiss softly. She felt his arms slip around her waist to draw her closer, and immediately felt warmer. Leaning into his arm, Sakura slid her tongue over his bottom lip before slipping into his mouth. His tongue immediately fought hers and they stood there for a while, mouth to mouth. His hands began roaming her back and one reached lower and rubbed her ass in a circle. Sakura felt a warmness begin to pool in her stomach. She arched her back and moaned into his mouth before taking his bottom lip between her teeth and pulling it roughly. Genma pulled her towards him harder and she heard him whisper incoherently to her. Sakura pulled back, breathing hard, and looked up at him. Smiling, she kissed him lightly on his lips before turning and leaving. "Night, Genma," she called out.

"YOU'RE SUCH A TEASE," he yelled miserably.

* * *

Sakura was still laughing as she made her way home. She faltered as she saw a familiar shock of silver outside of her apartment. Squinting her eyes, she made out Kakashi's form sitting on the curb.

"Kakashi, is that you? What are you doing here, you crazy old man?" She jogged over, worried that he had gotten hurt somewhere. He lifted his head to meet her eyes drowsily.

"He didn't do anything to you, did he?" Kakashi began, "If he did, I'll kill him." Sakura gave out a sigh of relief, glad that he wasn't hurt.

"No, Kakashi. Can you wait here for a quick minute before leaving though?" and before he could respond, Sakura was already inside her apartment, looking for something. When she came out, he looked at the object in her hands in confusion.

"It's a pen eraser, I think Asuma drew on your face," she smirked at him. Surprised, Kakashi muttered a quiet thank you and let her erase his face.

'Heh, lesson one: Always be alert!' Sakura began drawing on his face with a black marker. She began with an eye patch then began to draw circles over his eyes and she even colored in his nose. She clicked the marker to change it's color, and began coloring the rest of his face in with green. Biting her lip, Sakura said, "All done!" He murmured his thanks before making his way back home.

"Wait, Kakashi!" he turned back and reeled as she took a picture of him. "Sorry, I wanted to show it to Asuma to show him that he shouldn't mess with you because I'll always have your back!" Sakura smiled sweetly at him. He stared at her for a moment and leaned in to kiss her on her forehead. Making some quick signs, Kakashi poofed his way home.

Sakura stood there with a blush. Making her way back to her apartment, Sakura rubbed her forehead gently. 'It was because he was drunk, right?' Sakura shook her head of the thoughts. She looked at the photograph in her hand, and smiled.

After making a few copies, Sakura made a few quick seals and was outside of his apartment. Grateful that he never locked his door, Sakura quietly made her way inside and found Kakashi snoring away on his bed. She smiled at him and kissed his forehead and stealthily made her way back out.

Kakashi woke up and groaned. He had a splitting headache and his mouth was as dry as a desert. Licking his lips, he got up and immediately regretted it because of the pounding in his head. He couldn't remember anything, and he sat up and closed his eyes for a few minutes. Upon opening them, he noticed a paper near his pillow.

"Haha, pay back, sucker! Love, Sakura," Kakashi moaned as he saw the picture of his face on the paper. He stumbled his way to the bathroom and looked in the mirror. Kakashi's face was covered in marker ink.


End file.
